


Also Defeat

by WynCatastrophe



Series: Life in Freefall [8]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars - Intertrilogy, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-13 18:31:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/506437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WynCatastrophe/pseuds/WynCatastrophe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vader's troops win the day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Also Defeat

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my gosh! I just realized I _don't own Star Wars_! Oh, wait ... I already knew. :(

**Author:** [](http://wyncatastrophe.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://wyncatastrophe.livejournal.com/)**wyncatastrophe**  
 **Title:** Also Defeat  
 **Challenge: SWMiniNaNo**  
 **Prompt:** victory  
 **Word Count:** 241  
 **Characters:** Darth Vader  
 **Rating:** PG  
 **Summary:** Vader's troops win the day.  
 **Author's Notes:** Oh my gosh! I just realized I _don't own Star Wars_! Oh, wait ... I already knew. :(

 

ALSO DEFEAT

“It’s over,” says his second-in-command, wiping blood and sweat from her forehead with a grimy hand. “We won.” She grimaces, looking at the body count: not the tidy numbers they’ll send back to Imperial Center later, but the broken and bleeding remains of what used to be clone troopers. “Well, sort of.”

Vader can’t smell the death through his breathing apparatus, but he knows it’s there. He’s heard that a Sith Lord is supposed to revel in destruction, take delight in death, but Vader can only ever exult in victimless destruction, or in an enemy’s death. These ... these were his men. They died for _him_.

He knows it’s a weakness, but he cares anyway.

He can feel their deaths in the Force, and despite what Sidious says, this feeling doesn’t fuel him, doesn’t give him rage and power.

He can’t name what he does feel, now. ~~That way lies madness.~~

“Find the highest-ranking clone trooper left alive and give him a field promotion,” Vader tells her. His stomach roils at the thought, but it’s empty; he hasn’t eaten real food in years. “Give them all promotions.” He looks around the battleground, the carnage, the victory. “They’ve earned it.”

This was victory, these days. They had _won_.

He was still a Jedi when he learned that victory was sometimes also defeat. 


End file.
